Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Surgeon Attacks Nurse. Guess Who Is Fired?

A charge nurse in a Beverly Hills surgery center has sued her former employer for abuse suffered at the hands of a surgeon at the facility. Paula Rickey, a nurse at the 90210 Surgery Center in Beverly Hills, has sued Dr. Kerry Assil, an ophthalmologist at the ASC, and Cedars-Sinai Health Systems, the center's corporate affiliate, with battery, sexual harassment, and discrimination in LA County Superior Court.

The alleged incident took place July 17, 2017. On video surveillance, Dr. Assil can be seen walking behind Ms. Rickey and hitting her on the back of her head. He reported grabbed her arm and told her, "I know I can do this because I know you like the abuse."

When she complained to her supervisors, the incident was reviewed by the hospital's board of directors and she was moved to a different floor. Eventually she had her hours reduced and was soon let go. She claims that despite Dr. Assil's reputation for arrogance and philandering with female employees, he was the ASC's medical director and brought a lot of business to the office. Thus he barely received a wrist slap for his behavior. The fact that other people are seen in the video just walking by the two of them as if nothing has happened shows how chronic this behavior must have been in the operating rooms.

Dr. Assil is one of those celebrity physicians frequently found in Beverly Hills. They can be seen on daytime talk shows espousing their knowledge to a national audience while drumming up more business for themselves. They are unlikely to be sanctioned by a hospital board as long as they keep bringing in well paying patients. Sometimes even having cameras in the OR's are not enough to bring justice to those abused.